WARREN GATLAND’S DECISION to appoint Rob Howley as his attack coach for the Lions’ tour to New Zealand has drawn immediate criticism.
Unimaginative, uninspiring; so goes the thinking in many quarters.
Howley has grown used to this kind of reaction, however, with his tenure as Wales attack coach having drawn repeated criticism from many of the nation’s rugby supporters and media.
The former scrum-half stepped up as interim head coach for the Welsh before the 2013 Lions tour, which he was also part of, and takes up the same role with Wales as Gatland prepares for the 2017 Lions trip.
Rather unsurprisingly, Gatland came to his assistant’s defence after naming Howley in his Lions coaching team for next summer.
“I’ve worked closely with Rob as a player and as a coach for a number of years,” said Gatland. “I have a huge amount of respect for him.
“He gets a lot of criticism in Wales, but it’s the worst place in the world for criticism, Wales.
I look at his record and I think of the last 12 months where we finished second in the Six Nations. Over the last nine times that he’s [head] coached Wales, he’s won seven times. Yet he still gets criticised, so I find that… it’s part of professional sport at the moment.
“I’ve got a huge amount of time for him and his work ethic, and what he can bring to the table.”
Howley himself does his utmost to block out the criticism he faces in Wales, and says that the backlash has actually made him a stronger person.
“The only insight I get is from Luke [Broadley, Wales' head of communications], I personally don’t try to listen,” said Howley this afternoon.
“Ultimately, in terms of our players and coaches, you have a huge focus on what you need to deliver for a Test match week and you don’t want to be sidetracked in any way.
“Those criticisms do have an influence if you allow them to infiltrate your decision-making, so we have to be very clear in our mindset. It certainly makes you a stronger person and I’ve certainly become quite strong over the last two or three years.
“When you see and hear the reaction – and I’m not only told by media but obviously my daughters – it makes you stronger.”
Howley will head coach the Welsh for next year’s Six Nations, before handing over the reins to Robin McBryde for the summer tour of the Pacific Islands.
Content that the WRU has enough good coaches to cover for the loss of himself and Gatland in June, Howley will focus his attention on leading the Lions’ attack.
The Welsh attack has been perceived as predictable in recent seasons, although there were encouraging signs of increased ambition in the summer Test series defeat to New Zealand.
Howley says he won’t simply be transposing the Welsh attack system and philosophy onto the Lions, however.
“You’ve got different personnel, a different skill set, so it’s far different in terms of the ability,” said Howley. “When you look back at the intent and ambition in 2013, it will be the same intent to actually try and deliver at the highest level.”
Howley will have an assistant attack coach alongside him in New Zealand next summer, with Gatland keen to have all bases covered within his Lions set-up.
Gatland had initially sounded out Joe Schmidt over a possible role, but the Ireland head coach stressed his commitment to undertaking the tour of USA and Japan in June.
Similarly, Gregor Townsend turned down the opportunity to join the Lions as he gets set to lead Scotland to Australia.
“I’ve spoken about wanting to bring two attacking coaches, to take some of the pressure off the coaches,” said Gatland today.
“Sometimes you’re coaching two or three times a day, and so another attacking coach might be working with one team in the morning and the second team in the afternoon.
“The other attacking coach could be working with [defence coach] Andy Farrell, working on the attacking options that the team you’re playing against work on.
I’d spoken to Gregor. I understand his position. In fairness to the Scottish Rugby Union, they’ve shown some faith in him in terms of giving him that position.
“He would have loved to have the opportunity to go on the Lions and develop that, but he just felt at that time and in discussions with the SRU, that it was important that he – even though it was in his contract that he was able to go – they felt it was important he committed to Scotland because they committed to him.”
So more announcements to come?
“There will probably be another couple of names when we identify the people,” said Gatland. “Hopefully, we will be able to do that in another couple of weeks. So definitely another couple of names.”
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